Blog Posts by Eric Pfeiffer, Yahoo! News

During a routine crime investigation, Kansas City police discovered a series of underground dirt tunnels being used by the city’s homeless.

Local affiliate KMBC was on hand for the discovery when newscasters accompanied Kansas City Police Officer Jason Cooley, who was leading an investigation of stolen copper wiring from a nearby grain mill.

While checking on the seemingly ordinary homeless campsites, Cooley discovered a series of tunnels that went several feet under the earth and stretched nearly 25 feet.

“It was kind of in a little hill and probably four feet beneath the surface,” Cooley told the Kansas City Star.

Hope Faith Ministries, a local homeless organization, said the group had never seen anything like it. Carla Brewer was on site from the organization, offering the homeless individuals a place to shower and sleep away from the camp.

Police said they were especially concerned about a pile of dirty diapers discovered next to one of the underground tunnels.

"We're working to

A 175-foot tall smokestack in Washington state didn’t go down without a fight.

On Monday, an explosives crew detonated a payload beneath the 1,000-ton-smokestack at the former Peninsula Plywood mill site in Port Angeles, only to have it remain standing, most likely due to some rugged steel bars that were included to keep the thing standing in the first place.

Dozens of locals had gathered to see the demolition of the smokestack, which is being cleared to make way for a new marine development.

“At this point in time, the contractor is investigating the blast, what went right and what they need to do in order to complete the blast,” Port of Port Angeles Public Works Manager Randy Brackett told the crowd.

“Sooner or later, the stack is going down so that we can make room for the future."

The demolition crew then moved on to Plan B, using electrical saws to cut through the steel rebar inside the tower.

And as is seen in the video above, the smokestack was finally brought down on Monday

Individuals dressed as Cookie Monster and Elmo pose for pictures in Times Square (Reuters)

A photo op with the Cookie Monster seems to have taken an ugly turn.

A man dressed as the beloved Sesame Street character—but who was not representing "Sesame Street" in any formal capacity—was jailed after allegedly pushing down a 2-year-old. It happened after the toddler’s mother refused to tip the man after he'd posed for a picture in Times Square.

The New York Daily News reports that Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez, 33, reportedly demanded $2 after posing for the photo. When the child’s mother refused, he allegedly pushed the child over. Quiroz-Lopez has been charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Each day, a collection of individuals dressed in costumes representing famous children’s characters makes the rounds in Times Square offering to take photos with passers-by. Though they are not officially allowed to charge for the photos, those who take the photos often offer a small tip in exchange.

This is far from the first bizarre and negative exchange to happen with a

Local motorcycle taxis race to an airstrip in Peru. (AFP)A fleet of hundreds of taxis came to the rescue at an airstrip in Peru by forming a chain so that their headlights lit a local airstrip for a rescue plane’s emergency takeoff.

The small, remote airstrip is not designed for nighttime flights.

Three sick people were flown to a hospital after the motorcycle taxis gathered on the small airstrip in Contamana, Peru, according to Spanish-language site El Comercio.

The vehicles raced there in just 30 minutes after a radio call was made asking for assistance.

As the Peruvian Times notes, the only other access route from Contamana to the nearest hospital is an 18-hour boat ride.

"We have always been people with a heart," said Adolfo Lobo, who issued the distress call from a local radio station.

Unfortunately, one of the plane’s passengers, Samuel Tamani, later died of complications from a tropical disease, leptospirosis. However, the other two individuals, a mother and her newborn baby, were expected to fully recover.

You can watch the taxis

A Montana man retrieved $500 worth of money swallowed by his golden retriever (Reuters)During the Watergate investigation, Deep Throat famously told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward to “follow the money.”

Wayne Klinkel took the advice to an extreme conclusion after his dog swallowed five $100 bills, reports the Independent Record. For days, Klinkel followed his golden retriever Sundance, methodically retrieving the lost bills each time the 12-year-old dog defecated.

“Sundance is notorious for eating anything and everything, so right away I knew what happened,” Klinkel told the paper.

Amazingly, while the dog did consume the five $100 bills, one piece of tender was left untouched: a $1 bill.

Klinkel admits to largely being at fault. During a family trip, he said, he and his wife left the money in their car, where Sundance was locked up.

“I pretty much recovered two fairly complete bills and had some other pieces,” Klinkel said. “But it wasn’t nearly enough there to do anything with it.”

For months, Klinkel assumed the other $300 were lost to the ravages of Sundance’s

The Minerva Inn, partially built from the hull of Spanish Armada vessels, may need a paint job (Facebook)The Minerva Inn in Plymouth, UK is a famous landmark, with part of its structure made of wood from sunken 16^th Century Spanish Armada ships in 1588.

But the historical location is now facing a mandatory makeover, with city officials saying the 500-year-old wood is a fire hazard and must be painted over with a flame-resistant coating. In addition, the paint could conceal hand-carved messages written by thousands of servicemen and celebrities over the years.

"I don’t think Drake would have thought very much of the idea,” manager Shelley Jones said in an interview with the Plymouth Herald, referring to Sir Francis Drake, whose forces defeated the Spanish Armada that provided the wood for the Minerva’s construction. "The place has been here for nearly 500 years and it hasn’t burned down yet.”

After the Spanish Armada was defeated, Drake himself lived in a small home next to the pub.

The Minerva is rich with centuries of history, claiming to be the area’s oldest establishment, dating back